Robert CHALONER, estate agent, Ireland
Hello:
For those of you researching CHALONER, I have come across some interesting information.It seems that Robert CHALONER was the estate agent for Lord Thomas Fitzwilliam of the 85,000 acre "Coolattin Estates" in County Wicklow, Ireland, during the days of the great potato famine.There were 20,000 tenants on the estate.The Fitzwilliam family eventually sold the last of their estate in the 1970s.They donated their estate papers, going back 250 years, to the Irish nation.
For those of you researching CHALONER, I have come across some interesting information.It seems that Robert CHALONER was the estate agent for Lord Thomas Fitzwilliam of the 85,000 acre "Coolattin Estates" in County Wicklow, Ireland, during the days of the great potato famine.There were 20,000 tenants on the estate.The Fitzwilliam family eventually sold the last of their estate in the 1970s.They donated their estate papers, going back 250 years, to the Irish nation.This information came from an article in a history magazine "The Beaver", Oct/Nov, 1998.The article by Jim Rees, entitled "The Surplus People" describes a particular shipload of emigrants who were assisted financially to relocate in Canada.It was quite the exception for a major landlord to help the emigrants find jobs in the New World.
This information came from an article in a history magazine "The Beaver", Oct/Nov, 1998.The article by Jim Rees, entitled "The Surplus People" describes a particular shipload of emigrants who were assisted financially to relocate in Canada.It was quite the exception for a major landlord to help the emigrants find jobs in the New World.Here is an exerpt from the article:
Here is an exerpt from the article:"In March 1847, Robert Chaloner opened the estate emigration book. In it, he recorded the names of every tenant and family member prepared to leave for America.This did not refer to the United States, but to British North America - Canada.Between April and August 313 families, comprising 2,207 men, women and children left Coolattin for Quebec.They were among 98,000 refugees who sailed up the St. Lawrence that year to a country that was ill-prepared for such a deluge of pauperism."
"In March 1847, Robert Chaloner opened the estate emigration book. In it, he recorded the names of every tenant and family member prepared to leave for America.This did not refer to the United States, but to British North America - Canada.Between April and August 313 families, comprising 2,207 men, women and children left Coolattin for Quebec.They were among 98,000 refugees who sailed up the St. Lawrence that year to a country that was ill-prepared for such a deluge of pauperism.""The following year, in February 1848, just as Robert Chaloner was drawing up that year's quota of surplus tenantry (181 families, comprising 1,271 individuals), and three months after the initial work on the New Brunswick - Quebec railroad route had begun, Fitzwilliam struck a deal with the railroad directors.He would supply 100 men for three months at a rate of 2 shillings a day.He would pay the wage costs - about 1,000 pounds - and, in return, would receive the appropriate amount of shares in the company.On the face of it the plan seemed to benefit everyone:Fitzwilliam would be rid of another batch of tenants; the tenants would arrive in Canada with the prospect of three months' paid employment ahead of them; and the railroad company would be getting 100 workers whom someone else was paying."
"The following year, in February 1848, just as Robert Chaloner was drawing up that year's quota of surplus tenantry (181 families, comprising 1,271 individuals), and three months after the initial work on the New Brunswick - Quebec railroad route had begun, Fitzwilliam struck a deal with the railroad directors.He would supply 100 men for three months at a rate of 2 shillings a day.He would pay the wage costs - about 1,000 pounds - and, in return, would receive the appropriate amount of shares in the company.On the face of it the plan seemed to benefit everyone:Fitzwilliam would be rid of another batch of tenants; the tenants would arrive in Canada with the prospect of three months' paid employment ahead of them; and the railroad company would be getting 100 workers whom someone else was paying.""Chaloner set about organizing not only one hundred able-bodied men, but also their families.In all 383 individuals prepared to emigrate to St. Andrews.The railroad company had no idea that anyone other than the hundred workers would be dispatched, and therein lay the seeds of a misunderstanding..."
"Chaloner set about organizing not only one hundred able-bodied men, but also their families.In all 383 individuals prepared to emigrate to St. Andrews.The railroad company had no idea that anyone other than the hundred workers would be dispatched, and therein lay the seeds of a misunderstanding..."Good hunting........Ben